I Swear I'll Let You In
by theravenclawquill
Summary: With each tutoring session that passed, the walls came down. How Ezra Fitz came to care about an unlikely friend, and how Emily Fields learned to trust. Emily/Ezra.
1. Prologue and Session 1

(A/N) Hello all! So disclaimer: this isn't going to be a romantic Emily/Ezra fic (mainly because we know Emily doesn't swing that way, haha, and because Ezra/Aria isn't going anywhere), but I absolutely LOVE the Emily/Ezra storyline in this new season. Emily is seriously lacking a strong male presence in her life to look after her - her dad's away in the army, she doesn't have a brother or boyfriend to take care of her - and it's really sweet to see Ezra take a protective stance over Emily. And the fact that he's so hopelessly awkward around anyone who isn't Aria is cute too. So I really wanted to develop that whole relationship... it's nice to see him open up to become comfortable around Emily, and vice versa. Ok, enough from me. haha. hope you enjoy the first chapter :)

* * *

It was Sunday night in a coffee shop, and Ezra Fitz was thinking.

There are certain people who like to sit in dim-lighted Rosewood coffee shops – you know the type. Beanies, plaid shirts that look like they were sifted out of a flea market bin but really cost $60 at some boutique on 3rd Street, Kafka book in hand (for casual reading) to go along with the soy milk-replacement latte. Sure, Ezra was that guy sometimes, and he unabashedly knew it.

So there he was, finger dangling idly over the earmarked page in his Kafka – but Ezra Fitz wasn't thinking about the plight of poor Gregor Samsa today.

No, he was thinking about the phone call.

More specifically, that first phone call that had started it all. He had been sitting next to his girlfriend Aria in the car when his phone rang. He'd glanced at his screen to see nine unfamiliar digits – nine unfamiliar digits which would eventually evolve into nine familiar digits, which would eventually become saved under the name "Emily Fields," the digital text would flash every time she called.

"Hello?" he had answered warily, already pretty sure he knew what was coming.

Aria had given him the heads up – she had given her friend Emily his phone number because Emily was struggling in English. Although he wasn't exactly enthused about tutoring one of his former students (something seemed slightly unfair about it), Aria had asked him specifically - and Aria was his girlfriend, after all. Plus, after she had told him about all the hardships Emily had been going through recently, Ezra felt that the least he could do to help the poor girl was offer a bit of tutoring.

"Hey, Mr. Fitz." The girl on the other end had sounded equally as unenthusiastic – something that had taken Ezra by surprise. Slightly amused surprise. Emily's voice was silky, with a low register. "Aria probably told you why I'm calling."

Ezra chuckled at Emily's straightforwardness. "Yeah. She says you're having some trouble in Mrs. Montgomery's class?"

"I have to take a make-up test on Hedda Gabler."

"All right." He paused. "Okay, yeah, I remember that one. I can give you a summary, and we can discuss some of the plot and character analysis. If you're up for it."

"Yeah. That sounds good."

Ezra raised his eyebrows slightly, waiting for something else, anything else. A thank you? A request for more details? But Emily, on the other side of the line, remained as silent as a stone wall.

Feeling a need to fill the silence, Ezra continued, "Aria's pretty concerned about you, you know. I'm happy to help…" He trailed off uncertainly.

"Right." Emily's response was hard. "Look, Mr. Fitz, I appreciate your concern and Aria's, but she really shouldn't have told you anything about me. I don't want anyone to feel like they need to do me any favors."

Ezra nodded grimly. Instantly, he could tell that Emily was the type of girl who wasn't used to relying on other people… and he could respect that. He cleared his throat and responded seriously, "I'm not trying to do you a favor, Emily. I'd be doing classic literature a disservice if I let you go on living your life without ever understanding the beauty behind Hedda Gabler."

There was a long silence on the other side.

When Emily finally spoke again, there was a trace of a smirk in her soft voice. "Thanks, Mr. Fitz," she replied. She hung up before he could respond.

He hung up and stared down at the phone for several seconds.

"So?" Aria asked, leaning over excitedly from the passenger seat. "Was that Emily? Is she going to let you tutor her?"

Ezra ran a hand over his jaw. "Yeah. Yeah, she is."

"Good. Emily hasn't been herself since we lost Maya... I figured that since I don't feel qualified trying to fix her personal life, the least I could do is help out with her academic life."

"I see. She and Maya were really close, then?"

"Yeah," Aria replied, eyes widening. "I think they were in love. Like, the real thing."

"In love." Ezra said this as more of a question than a statement. He'd always had his suspicions that Emily, well, batted for the other side, but he had never been completely sure. "She must've disappointed a lot of the boys," he went on, laughing slightly. "Being that beautiful but off-limits."

Aria laughed too, punching her boyfriend softly in the arm. "You know, you find far too many poor, young high school girls beautiful for it to be normal at your age, Mr. Creep."

Ezra's eyes crinkled as he grinned. "I'm just saying," he managed to get out before Aria's lips crashed onto his.

* * *

So why exactly was Ezra Fitz thinking about this particular phone call on a Sunday night in the coffee shop by himself?

Interestingly, it was precisely the fact that he was worrying so much about Emily recently. Not just Emily, per se - it was moreso the fact that investing so much of his time and energy into tutoring her had introduced a new dimension into Ezra's life.

That is – before tutoring Emily, Ezra had really only cared about two things in his life: himself and Aria. Most of his thoughts were dedicated to worrying about Aria, worrying about Aria's parents, worrying about himself in relation to Aria... it felt nice to know that he could care about someone else for a change.

The first time Ezra had met with Emily to discuss Hedda Gabler was awkward. It'd been a while since he'd had to have a one-on-one conversation with a girl who wasn't Aria; he thought he might've forgotten what custom dictated.

Emily had come into Rear Window Brew wearing an oversized sweater, her hands wringing nervously inside the long sleeves. Ezra remembered noticing that immediately, simply because it was so different from what he was used to. Aria was a girl of more lavish fashion taste; whenever they'd go out, she'd be in a dress or laden with accessories and that dark eye makeup that Ezra loved on her.

But Emily's face was (as far as Ezra's untrained eye could tell) free of make-up, framed only by the thick smooth waves of tousled hair that almost reached her waist. Her sweater almost covered her shorts, revealing long tanned legs that ended in a pair of worn-in black ankle boots.

"Uh, hey – there," had been Ezra's not-so-smooth greeting.

Emily smiled back shyly, her long-lashed doe eyes wide in uncertainty. She shook his hand, then hers retreated awkwardly back to her other arm.

"Can I get you a cup of coffee?" _That's a little weird. You don't buy your student a drink, Ezra. This isn't a blind date._

"No, I'm okay," Emily replied instantaneously, obviously feeling the same. "Thanks, Mr. Fitz."

"You can call me Ezra."

"No, I can't."

There was a brief awkward silence.

Emily seemed to notice how cold and adamant she had sounded. She backtracked, shaking her head and giving Ezra a tiny, apologetic smile.

"But... I can try."

Ezra smiled too.

* * *

(A/N) How was it? I hope you liked it. :) Feel free to let me know what you thought! Thank you for reading, and I hope to update soon!


	2. Session 2

(A/N) Hi all! Thanks for the positive feedback to deadgirl101, liferscove2118, princessjasmine12, and the two guests. :) The reviews are great motivation and guidance. On to the next chapter! :)

* * *

_Session 2._

It didn't take long for it to become clear to Ezra that Emily Fields wasn't going to be the easiest student to teach. It wasn't because she wasn't smart – in fact, she seemed like one of the sharpest students Ezra had ever met. She seemed to pick up on everything happening around her – and every so often, she would often catch him off-guard by suddenly mentioning details about events that Ezra himself had long forgotten.

Unfortunately, none of these details were about Hedda Gabler.

Or even about literature, at that.

By their second meeting, it was obvious that Emily had a lot on her mind during their sessions. Her hazel eyes would dart nervously around the room, she would shift constantly in her seat, she would answer Ezra with absentminded 'yes' and 'no's (even when he hadn't asked a yes or no question).

"So in the last scene, would you consider Hedda in a position of power or a position of vulnerability?" Ezra asked, eyes trained intently on Emily's distracted ones, hidden behind a curtain of dark hair.

She shuffled her feet for a couple of quiet seconds before her mind seemed to return to the present. "The first… choice?"

"Fine. And what was the first choice again?"

Emily floundered for a second, and then seemed to slump forward. "Sorry, Mr. Fitz. I didn't really hear the question, to be honest."

Ezra sighed patiently and sat back in his seat, studying his troubled student carefully. _Man. How do I get through to this girl? _

"Okay. Take five. Want to go get a drink?"

Emily raised her brows and gave him a small, thin-lipped smile. "No, I'm good, thanks."

"Well, I'm going to get one. Give me a sec." Ezra scooted his chair back and made his way to the barista behind the counter. _Emily is obviously a smart girl,_ he thought, ordering his usual (a small latte with almond milk and an extra shot of espresso). _She has all the information. I just have to get her to pay attention…_

He carried his drink back to their table with renewed fervor; the cup hit the table with a bang.

"So you've killed someone."

Emily's head shot up in shock, her eyes wide as saucers. "What? How -"

Ezra smiled, pretending to inspect her closely. "Say I'm a judge, and you've killed someone. Like Judge Brack and Hedda in the book."

"Oh." Emily seemed to visibly sag in relief. The color returned to her face.

"You have ties to the murder weapon, and I'm the only one who discovered this. So, obviously, I'm going to use this to my advantage. I'm going to blackmail you."

"And why would that be the obvious thing to do?" Emily snapped instantly, sounding defensive all of a sudden.

Ezra gave her a weird look. "Because I'm the antagonist?"

"Oh. Right."

"All right, so I'm going to blackmail you, and you know this. What's your next plan of action?"

Emily steeled. She shifted in her seat. "Well, I'm not going to give in."

"But if I reveal your secret, your reputation will be ruined. You'd probably be tried for murder."

"I don't care. I'm not going down without a fight. You can send me all the clues you want."

_Clues? _Ezra shrugged it off and continued, "Well, Hedda wasn't as brave as you. She realized she was being blackmailed and eventually shot herself in the head. She couldn't stand the fact that someone had something over her. A lot of people said that this was the ultimate act of power because she ended things on her term."

"Well, she wimped out," Emily continued, voice hardening. "She let the judge control the rules of the game. Why didn't she dig a little deeper? Maybe she could've stopped the judge from revealing her secret by finding out an equally useful secret about him. I mean, why was a judge withholding evidence in the first place? Right? You can't just give up with every threat you get. Killing herself wasn't an act of power… she took the easy way out. Hedda wasn't in a position of power; she was weak and vulnerable – not just in the last scene, but throughout the entire play."

Ezra stared at Emily, brows raised.

There was a very long, thoughtful silence.

"A-plus," Ezra finally spoke, giving her a lopsided smile.

* * *

"A _little_ guarded?" Aria laughed. She was sitting next to Ezra on his couch, feet tucked under her legs and body facing him. "Isn't that the understatement of the year? Emily's probably the most guarded person I know. It's not easy to get her to show her true feelings. Sometimes I'd say she's proud, sometimes I'd say she's brave. But yeah, you're right about that – she's definitely guarded."

Ezra exhaled and took a swig of beer. "Yeah, you should've seen her when I brought up Maya the first day. She clammed up faster than a Muslim at the Spanish Inquisition."

"Wait." Aria threw up a hand. "You what? You brought up _Maya_? Are you crazy?"

"Yeah. Was I not supposed to?"

"Emily barely talks to _us, _her best friends,about Maya. What made you think she'd respond to _you_?"

Ezra felt sheepish now. "I don't know… I thought the reason she was so quiet was because she was still upset about Maya's death. I thought if I let her know I was open to talk about it, she'd open up a little more too."

"Yeah. Well." Aria snorted. "Emily's not exactly the type of girl who's that easy to crack."

Ezra took another drink and nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah. I'm starting to realize that."

* * *

(A/N) How was it? I hope you liked it. :D feel free to let me know what you thought in a review! Thanks for reading, and I'll update soon :)


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